12 replies to this topic

[nquattro0123]

help with colors

[flippin and pitchin]

176, 287 and 293 are always in the boat.

[Crestliner2008]

Forget color. Focus on depth & speed control in the given circumstances you are faced with. 90% of success is predicated on those controls. Carry some green, some brown and maybe some lighter colors. Forget specifics. It's not really that important.

[Gavin]

Color depends on the background upon which your lure is viewed and water claritiy. If you do the blend in strategy.....Clear & sunny...Chartruse or White on Top...blends in nicely with the blue sky and overhanging vegetation when viewed from below. Middle of the water column & clear...match the bait fish. Deep & Clear, match the bottom color....Stand out or stained water strategy...Black on Top for the best silouette, something supernormal like hot pink, orange, yellow or chartruese fished subsurface. The fish will let you know. Cheers.

[B@ssCrzy]

Color does not matter it's all pretty much a personal preference. It's all about presentation, if the fish is hungry and you throw it in front of him, then he will eat it, if he's not hungry then he will not! It's all luck!

I agree that a big part is about presentation, but I don't agree that color does not matter. It may matters less when fish are actively feeding, but depending on the conditions it can make a difference. Location, weather, presentation, may play a bigger role in whether or not you catch something, but choosing the proper color can only help add to your chances. I fish mainly clearer waters. So if I buy colors I buy colors that match the forage of the lake or pond I fish. If it is topwater I always have white and black as well. However, if you see something that really gives you a lot of confidence in it then get that, because confidence is key and the more you have confidence in it the more you will keep it in the water not in your tacklebox.

[Bluebasser86]

Smallies seem to like about any color. At times it's all about having a natural bait and other times you have to have something that's really bright and stands out. Usually the slow moving baits should be natural colors, green pumpkin, watermelon, pumpkin, black, and fast moving baits should be bright, yellow, chartruese, pink, white. I am not at all saying this is the rule, but it is a good place to start.

[nquattro0123]

i want to go fish but its raining in pittsburgh

[senco lover]

color is just to get people to buy there product. focuse on the action of the lure and how to present it

[bigbill]

Colors?? It took Dr Loren Hill of OK University 10 years of testing to develope the "Combo C Lector"(last version). The first one was the color c lector. The fish can only see certain colors sometime do to the hue's and sunlite and the conditions in the water. When i got into bass fishing being a late commer (older) i needed to read anything i could to catch up with the rest of you guys. I seen Bill Dance tell about the Combo C Lector and i had to have one. Heck i have a brand new never used one and the one i tested. This is the older unit not the newer one thats offered today. The Combo C Lector tells us what colors the fish can see at that time, the PH at that depth and the water temp at that depth. The probe cord is marked in feet. The colors are marked in numbers also to match the lure colors that were offered for it too.

My test was done from a low bridge in the same spot for a few days, at the same time.

The first day the combo c lector chose green as the main color. I threw a bomber in green craw and caught fish when no other color worked.
The second day any color worked, the reds, the greens and browns.
The next day it chose a red so i used a bomber in redapple craw and it also worked when no other color worked.
The next day it chose brown so i used the manns baby 1 in brown craw and none of the other colors worked at that time.
Another day again all the colors worked.

Quote Bill Dance; If the bass could see all the colors all the time there wouldn't be a minnow left in the water.

This tells me that color does matter to a point on a tough day of fishing. The fish are there and can't see your lure. It tells me to have an array of the same lure in different colors. Like the red's, the brown's, the green's and the chartruese. If you want to fine tune it get the citrus and the yellow/blues where possible.

BTW; Kevin Vam Dam has a combo c lector on his boat too for the tough days. He probably has the newer version by now.

So does color matter??? For me its the color, the size and the presentation too. But do not leave out the condition of the water too. Like Clear, slightly stained, stained, muddy its all here on how to fish all the different conditions.

Now did i learn anything about the color of my lures? Yup color does matter. Bigbill

[captainbelly]

I have had the most hits on chartreuse color

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Once the water conditions have been addresssed color is important in as far as giving you confidence. If you believe in a color you will fish it longer and be more attentive which is what I think leads one color to work over another for the most part. The experiment above is interesting but probably not scientifically conclusive. There is no way to tell whether or not you'd have gotten bites at the same time and location with another color because that particular opportunity has passed. I feel color palys a role, more some days than others but it's way down on the priority list for me.

[aclark609]

Whoever says color doesn't matter is wrong in my opinion; however, color isn't as important as understanding the current conditions and applying a bait that suits those conditions well. Just experiment.

[OkobojiEagle]

I'm plagiarizing a pretty good angler in his time... Something dark, something light and something between!

oe